He did find a different capacity, though it’s not clear he made much difference. Since leaving Capitol Hill, Bayh has cultivated a very lucrative second career in serving on corporate boards, earning nearly $4 million over the last five years.

The former senator’s income since leaving Congress is ultimately much higher than these filings indicate ― in 2011, he also joined private equity firm Apollo Global Management as a senior adviser and K Street firm McGuireWoods as a strategic advisor.

Of course, Bayh is not alone in pursuing board appointments after leaving office. Forty-five percent of senators who left Capitol Hill from 1992 to 2015 ended up on boards, according to a Washington Post report released last year. The report also found that 60 percent of ex-lawmakers who accepted such positions did so within a year of leaving office.

But it is unusual for a former lawmaker to return to their old office after joining the private sector.

Bayh’s campaign denied that the former senator’s corporate record will influence his lawmaking.

“Hoosiers know Evan as the independent-minded Senator and Governor who put Indiana first and it’s why they continue to support him by a huge margin,” Bayh campaign manager Paul Tencher told HuffPost in an email. “If elected, Evan will resign these positions but that won’t stop his opponents from trying to misrepresent his record. Too bad for them, it just won’t work.”

Conservatives, however, have already seized on the potential conflicts of interest. A group backed by GOP megadonors Charles and David Koch has already spent $1 million on ads attacking Bayh for supporting the 2008 Wall Street bailout before joining the finance industry himself.